Main Menu

Teaching Gender to Secondary and Tertiary Students

Teaching Gender to Secondary and Tertiary Students

OVERVIEW

This five module course helps facilitators engage youth in gender-based discussions of agriculture careers and to critically analyze whether they are basing judgment of tasks, skills and responsibilities on sex or gender norms. Youth may make career choices based on gender norms of adults around them without critical awareness of their internalized gender bias. The course guides facilitators as they challenge youth to critically analyze whether they are basing judgment of tasks, skills and responsibilities on sex or gender norms.

For this course we align with the definitions of Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. Gender roles are those behaviors, tasks and responsibilities that a society considers appropriate for men, women, boys and girls. Gender relations are the ways in which a society defines rights, responsibilities and the identities of men and women in relation to one another.

Gender Bias is a sometimes subtle or blatant sociological belief in the status of proper feminine or masculine behavior. Facilitators will examine their own cultural beliefs about gender issues and identify where gender beliefs may affect facilitation.

Objectives:

Articulate beliefs, why they believe it and are they willing to change that belief Identify answers to gender beliefs and biases for the cultural/community from which the young adults live

Using emoticons and images without people to represent different household responsibilities, the facilitator guides youth through this activity to think about household duties (that may or may not include the land, animals, etc.) through the lens of gender. The facilitator's role is to guide the discussion to solicit examples that also focus on agriculture.

Student dialogue will focus about how gender roles can be modified in small ways without threatening cultural norms and current cultural beliefs and identify long-term changes that may occur. As we focus on agriculture, one of the categories can focus on the production of high value agriculture.

Objectives:

Identify local gendered roles in the community

Identify gender division of labor and expectations outside the home

Describe the difference between the biological attributes of sex and socially constructed gender roles

Various careers can benefit from certain gender qualities. Students will identify whether these divisions are cultural, by preference or defined by certain gender characteristics. Because USAID's focus is on agriculture and the value chain, one of the categories will focus on the activities related to the production of high value agriculture.

Objectives:

Identify local gendered roles in the community

Identify ways in which economic and societal factors may or may not reinforce traditional gender roles

Identify gender division of labor and expectations of careers, focusing mostly on the agricultural value chain

Identify own skills or characteristics could benefit a career in agriculture, business, etc.

Audience

This course was developed by InnovATE as part of their commitment to improve the quality of agricultural labor force at all institutional levels. These modules were originally designed for agriculture educators and are applicable in various context for engaging youth in agriculture business.
Detailed lessons plans and additional resources for facilitating the activities are available at InnovATE.

The information provided on this website is not official U.S. government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government.